2021 Olympics Thread

Women’s 3 on 3 losing to China late in the game 🤦🏻‍♂️

Tied with 35 seconds left and Plum hit a big 2 for the win

Mixed doubles ping pong….

We have a winner! WOW LOL. It doesn’t even look real.

Ping pong and badminton at this level are laughable how good they are.

China had won 28 of the 32 gold medals in mixed doubles and Japan takes them down in 7 games.

That was awesome. That 20 year old girl Ito. 👏👏👏

posted by Fletch

Ping pong and badminton at this level are laughable how good they are.

The coordinating between the two to alternate shots in that high speed ping pong was way more impressive than the individual ping pong I’ve seen so far. Badminton great but a notch behind IMO

Skateboarders are kind of nuts.  Only sport where you're GOING to wipe out, and likely come up bleeding.  Probably have to learn how to fall in that sport before anything else.

No helmets and no pads, and some of those women were biting it HARD.  Kind of surprised helmets aren't mandatory.

posted by gut

Skateboarders are kind of nuts.  Only sport where you're GOING to wipe out, and likely come up bleeding.  Probably have to learn how to fall in that sport before anything else.

No helmets and no pads, and some of those women were biting it HARD.  Kind of surprised helmets aren't mandatory.

I watch some sort of mountain bike race for a while and it was a grueling course and those guys were wiping out everywhere….hardly ever a few seconds of pedaling without a dangerous area or maneuver needed.

posted by Fletch

Ping pong and badminton at this level are laughable how good they are.

I used to be REALLY good at ping pong. I played in a LOT of tournaments from the time I was 18 through about 30.

I really started getting good when the place I Co-Op (engineering intern) at while in college played at lunch every day in the shop. The one guy was older, but when he was younger he was top 20 in the US. You had to get better just to keep it on the table.

I started going to tournaments and was doing well at non-sanctioned tournaments (non-USATT sanctioned). I had finished in the top 3 at each non-sanctioned and won a few.

So, I started trying actual sanctioned tournaments, and they use a rating system just like chess' system, where Olympic level people are 2400 up (grand master in chess), etc.

Lets just say after about 10 tournaments that were sanctioned, my rating never got above about 1100. The difference between an 1100 and even a 1600 is insane, played a 1600 russian guy that beat me like 21-3 and 21-2, my 5 points were serves he missed the table, I never scored a point of my own.

Now he wouldn't even score a point on his own against an Olympic ping pong player. 

Its just plain nuts.

posted by Ironman92

Tied with 35 seconds left and Plum hit a big 2 for the win

I’ve watched a few of their games and I’m always in disbelief how much bigger their center is than everyone else. 

Funny story about my first USATT sanctioned ping pong tournament. 

If you have never played in one before you have no rating and get thrown into a tournament pool of other unrated players. This could be some bum like me who never played seriously before or some 15 year old prodigy that this is their first competition out of their Asian parents training room. 

I get this 9 year old girl in my round robin. It did not matter how hard I spiked the ball at her she ALWAYS returned it. She was amazing, and her little brother that was in a different round robin was as good or better.  

For the first half of the first game she was beating me. I was about 22/23 years old at the time and she was 9. 

Until I hit a drop shot with back spin and realized her arms weren’t long enough to reach for those. 

And that’s how I beat a 9 year old prodigy who last I checked had qualified for the Olympic trials the last two Olympics for the US. I kept drop shorting her, I felt so bad, I really did. 

I told her afterwards that not only was she better than me now, she will be far better than me as she grows up.

My wife was there watching and still picks on me every once in a while about drop shots on a 9 year old girl. 

posted by jmog

Funny story about my first USATT sanctioned ping pong tournament. 

If you have never played in one before you have no rating and get thrown into a tournament pool of other unrated players. This could be some bum like me who never played seriously before or some 15 year old prodigy that this is their first competition out of their Asian parents training room. 

I get this 9 year old girl in my round robin. It did not matter how hard I spiked the ball at her she ALWAYS returned it. She was amazing, and her little brother that was in a different round robin was as good or better.  

For the first half of the first game she was beating me. I was about 22/23 years old at the time and she was 9. 

Until I hit a drop shot with back spin and realized her arms weren’t long enough to reach for those. 

And that’s how I beat a 9 year old prodigy who last I checked had qualified for the Olympic trials the last two Olympics for the US. I kept drop shorting her, I felt so bad, I really did. 

I told her afterwards that not only was she better than me now, she will be far better than me as she grows up.

My wife was there watching and still picks on me every once in a while about drop shots on a 9 year old girl. 

🤷🏻‍♂️

Gotta do what you gotta do.

In similar fashion but people my age….in college I had a badminton class with basically all of the athletes AND the Asian students about campus. I was the best in that class but the Asians would destroy every other person but when they played me I would often use the dink over the net and they acted like it was some lucky shot or a dishonest play….and used their language so I know they were using the bad words lol…..now watching the mixed ping pong when a rally hits a net and they score the team that scored raises their hand to other team to signify they were lucky and a “my bad

Lol screw that…..perfectly in the rules. I did see Japan do this kind sportsmanship in the deciding Game 7 with just 2 points left for the gold medal. Impressive

Rough morning for the American women’s teams. 

I assume she's probably injured, but maybe this is why you shouldn't walk around calling yourself the GOAT and that you're unbeatable: 

"Biles posted on social media Monday that she felt the weight of the world on her shoulders. It affected her practice. It affected her confidence. And when she stepped onto the vault runway, it finally found its way to her performance, too."

I’m not calling any gymnast soft or weak because they are basically in a category of their own….but that Russian girl doing the floor exercise and vault 3 months after tearing her achilles…..Biles must be pretty hurt.

Cool

https://fb.watch/6-XjvEjkgH/

She isn't even hurt. Its all mental right? 

If it was an physical injury, I assume she would pull out of the individual ones also. But with no pressure of teammates on those, I think she is still in them. Its the team one, where she basically had to be perfect for them to win, that got to her. Unless I am missing something? I haven't checked the status in hours, so new information may be out now.

posted by Laley23

She isn't even hurt. Its all mental right?

This will get epic, and ugly.  I called her the "GOAT of GOATS" a week ago, and now a lot of people might call this the "CHOKE of CHOKES".  And of course, you can predict what will be said about her critics...

Remarkable that all these people that have to carry a team, very rarely does someone just tap out.  I'd say it's not fair to her, and can't imagine the pressure she put on herself, but when you walk around calling yourself the GOAT (even if it's true)...

posted by Laley23

She isn't even hurt. Its all mental right? 

If it was an physical injury, I assume she would pull out of the individual ones also. But with no pressure of teammates on those, I think she is still in them. Its the team one, where she basically had to be perfect for them to win, that got to her. Unless I am missing something? I haven't checked the status in hours, so new information may be out now.

I don’t know….all I know is their entire lives are nonstop going after the Olympic goal and success in it…the lifestyle seems abusive and the amount of pressure is unfathomable.

I honestly have trouble watching due to them breaking down or struggling under the pressure. I love their smiles and happiness but the whole lifestyle of the sport screams creepy and it bothers me.

posted by gut

This will get epic, and ugly.  I called her the "GOAT of GOATS" a week ago, and now a lot of people might call this the "CHOKE of CHOKES".  And of course, you can predict what will be said about her critics...

Remarkable that all these people that have to carry a team, very rarely does someone just tap out.  I'd say it's not fair to her, and can't imagine the pressure she put on herself, but when you walk around calling yourself the GOAT (even if it's true)...

It is definitely a choke. She is saying that she couldnt perform because of pressure and it got to her mentally and effected her performance. I get that and I get withdrawing because of it (and ironically it helped the team vs her sucking it up). But, that is the literal definition of choka.

Super odd because she has never wilted under the pressure beforehand.